• Getting an Apple Watch

    by

    Bringing a new piece of internet-connected technology into your life requires an adequate amount of thought. And after a couple years of thinking about it, I finally decided to get an Apple Watch. Usually there’s no need to blog about a consumer electronics purchase, but I feel like the Apple Watch is different. Its capabilities and role are more intimate.

    That is, I’m not getting one to tell me the time – I have a couple of great watches that work fine. No, I’m getting the Watch because it can help remind me to focus on me and the long term. If properly utilized it can aid me in my quest for a simpler, healthier life.

    The promised sleep tracking, combined with the package of simpler features is what finally pushed me over the edge to purchase one. I’d love to be able to use the EKG feature, but it’s not enabled (yet) on Watches sold in Japan.

    Sleep Tracking

    Reading about the sleep tracking feature online, it seems that it’s less focused on the minutia and more focused on the big picture. Get you to bed on time as planned, so you get your hours in, and the rest will work itself out. Focus on the basics.

    While I usually get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, with a toddler, my sleep or wake time are not entirely in my control. Having a record of my hours slept and then being able to corollate it over time to how I feel will be powerful.

    Haptic Alarms

    One part of my sleep schedule that is partially in control is my wake time. Ideally I’d like to get up around 4am consistently. This is easier in the summer in Japan because the sun rises around 4:30am and it’s hot by 6am. However, I’m unable to use an alarm that makes noise, as it’ll wake everyone else in the house up. Using an alarm that doesn’t make noise, but just vibrates so I can feel it is a game changer for controlling when I rise each day.

    AirPods + GPS

    Having a built in GPS and being able to sync music / podcasts to my watch will make it easier to go for a run in the morning. No more fiddling with my phone, wearing a bag to hold it or anything. Just grab my keys/id and go.

    ApplePay

    Full support for ApplePay on the Watch means when I’m out for a run, I can stop by 7-11 to get an iced coffee without fiddling with cash or my phone. It also means that even if I forget my phone (or choose to leave it at home), I still have my credit cards / transit cards, everything with me.

    Even if I manage to wake consistently at 4am, I’ve still got to use that time efficiently. Waking up by my iPhone next to me is a quick way to lose my faith in humanity before getting out of bed each day.

    I’ll end with a few things that I hope the Watch will encourage.


    • Consistent wake and sleep times. I’m shooting for an 8pm ~ 4am schedule. When my son is gone, the 8pm bedtime goes out the window.

    • Increase Water Consumption: I tend to slip on coffee for too long and not drink enough water. Simple reminders to nag me to drink my water.

    • Increase movement during the day: I’m a programmer and when I get in the zone I don’t get up unless I have two. Fortunately my workplace lets me get in the zone pretty good almost everyday. Unfortunately, I’ll realize sat down after lunch and haven’t gotten up once until quitting time.

    • Running: My eternal goal - become a regular runner. I was a regular runner for 3 months just after Leo was born. It may have been because I was sleep deprived and my brain couldn’t talk it’s way out of running. But it also may have been that I was always up at 4am anyways.

    It arrives tomorrow and I am giddy.

  • Checkin to Yokohama World Porters (横浜ワールドポーターズ)

    by
    in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

    First time driving the highway in Japan/ downtown Yokohama. Lane keep assist rules.

  • by


    I worry a bit about iOS apps on macOS making "Mac" apps the norm, rather than crafted experiences we're accustomed. Who am I kidding, besides 1Password, it's all Electron. Maybe this could result in better Mac apps!? I’m cautiously optimistic about the new ARM Macs.


  • ARM Macs

    by

    The rumored switch of Apple from Intel x86 CPUs to their own custom ARM chips is exciting. But as a web developer, I wonder how this will impact me and how long it will be until an ARM Mac is usable for…work. Most of the tools I use aren’t native to macOS (PyCharm/Firefox), or ported and super-slow (Docker).

    Will an ARM work be fast enough and compatible enough that I can continue using a Mac for work?

  • by

    Growing up, I'd stay up until 3 or 4am on IRC, chatting with people from Europe, South America, Australia/NZ. We built websites, setup servers, shared knowledge, hosted radio shows together. No rails with technology. Fun times. That time is entirely why I'm able to support myself now. Sadly lost touch with most of them.  I wonder how they're all doing now. This post brought to you by some MP3s of "The Streets" that I got from a Swede in those days.

  • Unexpected Calm

    by

    I bought a new (shorter) domain for my new email address. One advantage of migrating away from gmail that I hadn’t anticipated is how much calmer I feel.

    You see, Gmail technically supports IMAP, but it’s more of a shim. You’re not really supposed to use IMAP with Gmail. And as such I never felt comfortable using a regular email client, instead opting to check mail via the web-app.

    Checking mail via a browser is fine but being in a browser switches your mind to a different context. Browsers are meant for consuming. The entire internet is just a simple cmd-T away. So “checking email” became a mental excuse to open my web browser. And then Twitter. And then Hacker News. And then Reddit. Oh, I wonder if I got any new email? And repeat.

    Now with a provider where IMAP is a first class citizen, I can use Mail.app again. Mail is set to be pulled in once an hour. No more temptation from a web browser. And an unexpected sense of calm.

    I’m back in control.

  • by

    Love that new shiny email address smell. Especially one that isn't owned by Google (import almost finished) and it's shorter to boot!

  • by

    Each time I watch “Rams”, a documentary of Dieter Rams, something different gets stuck in my head.

    This time was brief interaction at the very start of the film. A designer asks how he can propel his work beyond mediocracy. Rams’ response is simple: Find people whom you can collaborate, and to use this collaboration to move beyond mediocracy.

    The shift in ability required to elevate your craft is something that often can’t happen alone. Collaborating is the most effective method to improve your work. Looking back, I can pinpoint exactly when and where my sense of design as a developer went from typical engineer to closer to a designer.

    I was moonlighting and doing some work with a designer, who was also the lead on the project. I’d submit a revision and she she noticed immediately when my implementation wasn't perfect. A section was a bit too tall, or a line off by a pixel. Through this back and forth, I began to catch things I didn’t before. My eyes began to see what she saw.

    Before I was blind and, through collaboration, I could see.

  • Migrating From Gmail

    by

    I’ve been using my gmail account since a few months after the beta started. I’ve moved a dozen times since then, but my email stayed the same.

    However, over the years Google has lost my confidence that they’ll do the right thing and do no evil. It’s for this reason I don’t use their apps, don’t invest in tweaking gmail, or even (especially) sync my contacts.

    As a Mac user for almost 20 years, I’d like to use iCloud for my email, but I can’t use custom domains with Apple. While I don’t foresee Apple losing my trust and confidence, I can’t be sure.

    Tying my email to a third party domain will lock me in to their ecosystem, for better or worse. Moreover, I could lose it all in an instant by the whim of an algorithm with little to no recourse.

    With Gmail, I’m not the customer, the advertisers are. And because our interests are not aligned, I have no idea how my data will actually be used.

    What to do?

    The obvious answer is to move my email to a domain I own. Then find a provider that supports open protocols and that I pay at a regular interval.

    I’m leaning towards Fastmail. They’ve got a nice detailed migration guide, I’ve been a customer on the business side for a number of years, it’s time to renew, and most importantly their systems behave in ways that I expect.

    The main blocker isn’t even money, it’s updating each account that uses my gmail as a login to my new address. Lock-in, albeit defacto and of my own doing, is a bitch.

  • by

    Using my spare 15 - 20 minutes in the morning to ease back into macOS/Obj-C development. It's fun.

Previous 183 of 359 Next